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East Asia & Pacific is facing some great development challenges today: urbanization, protection of the environment, the need to find renewable energy sources and many others. This site wants to create a conversation around those important issues. More »

Agriculture

The world’s resources, at a glance

Submitted by James I Davison on Fri, 2009-10-23 12:40

Here’s an interesting and quick item to check out on a Friday. This map gives an attractive, at-a-glace look at some of the world’s key natural resources, organized by country. A couple of things to note that are East Asia-related: China leads more categories (at least on this map) than any other country, including wheat, cotton, gold and rice. Thailand and Indonesia also are represented, as leaders in rubber production.

Click map to view large.

It's usually worth noting the source of the data used for these types of graphics. The sources named are the CIA World Factbook, the USDA World Crop Supply Assessment and the British Geological Survey's World Mineral Statistics.

(Hat tip: Datavisualization and Webdesigner Depot)

ມັນເປັນໄດ້ຫຼາຍກວ່າເຂື່ອນ: 41 ປີຜ່ານມາ ຮ່ອງຮອຍປະຫວັດສາດຍັງຄົງເຫຼືອໄວໃຫ້ເຫັນ ຢູ່ລາວ

Submitted by Victoria Minoian on Mon, 2009-10-05 12:06

(This entry was originally published in English on Sep. 9, 2009)

 

ຕັ້ງແຕ່ໄດ້ເຮັດວຽກເພື່ອຊ່ວຍເຫຼືອວຽກງານດ້ານການສື່ສານ ແລະ ຂໍ້ມູນຂ່າວສານໃຫ້ແກ່ໂຄງການ ໄຟຟ້ານ້ຳເທີນ 2 (NT2) ຢູ່ລາວໃນຕົ້ນປີນີ້, ຂ້ອຍກໍ່ໄດ້ຟັງຫຼາຍຄົນເວົ້າວ່າ ໂຄງການນີ້ມີຄວາມໝາຍຫຼາຍກ່ວາໂຄງການພັດທະນາໄຟຟ້ານ້ຳຕົກ. ຖ້າຫາກໄດ້ອ່ານ ແລະ ສຶກສາຄົ້ນຄ້ວາ ກ່ຽວກັບການປະຕິຮູບໂຄງສ້າງຫຼາຍໆດ້ານ ທີ່ລັດທະບານລາວໄດ້ຈັດຕັ້ງປະຕິບັດ ເພື່ອດຳເນີນໂຄງການດັ່ງກ່າວ, ທ່ານຈະສາມາດເຂົ້າໃຈວ່າເປັນຫຍັງຄົນຈຳນວນຫຼາຍຈຶ່ງເວົ້າແນວນັ້ນ. ໃນມໍ່ໆມານີ້, ຂ້ອຍກໍ່ໄດ້ມີໂອກາດໄປສຳພາດກັບບາງວຽກງານ ທີ່ໄດ້ປະກອບສ່ວນອັນສຳຄັນໃຫ້ແກ່ໂຄງການນີ້ ແລະ ເປັນປະສົບການທີ່ຫຼາຍຄົນບໍ່ອາດຄາດຄິດມາກ່ອນ ແຕ່ມັນແມ່ນມີຄວາມໝາຍອັນສຳຄັນຕໍ່ໂຄງການ.

Returning to Siberut: 30 years later, little has changed on remote Indonesian island

Submitted by Tony Whitten on Wed, 2009-09-23 12:15

Go anywhere after a 30 year break and you expect to see change – and you hope things will be better. Thus my wife Jane and I, together with our four children, were intrigued to see what life was like now on Siberut, the largest and most northerly of the Mentawai Islands off the west coast of Sumatra, when we visited it a few weeks ago. Jane and I had lived in a hut in the middle of the island conducting wildlife research for over two years until 1978. We wanted to see our closest friend there, Potifar Tengatiti Siribetuk, as well as other old friends, our old study area, some of the remaining traditional houses, and as many of Siberut’s four endemic species of primates as we could.

Visiting the island and the provincial capital of Padang also provided an opportunity to observe the impacts of the $1 million of grants which had focused on Siberut under the Phase 1 of the World Bank-implemented Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund. These grants had followed on from an Asian Development Bank loan project (pdf) from 1992-2000 which was not a resounding success for a variety of reasons. This had itself followed on from WWF projects.

'Facebook for farmers' brings microloans to people in rural China

Submitted by James I Davison on Wed, 2009-09-16 16:20

The founders of a microfinance website I came across a few months ago are giving an interesting, benevolent twist to social networking. At least, that’s one way of looking at Wokai.org, a non-profit organization benefiting entrepreneurs in rural China.

Wokai has been dubbed by some as a “Facebook for farmers,” yet it may be more comparable to well-known microfinance sites like Kiva, which allow people with an Internet connection to give loans directly to entrepreneurs in developing countries. Wokai, however, focuses solely on impoverished people living in rural China.

More than a dam: In Laos, history still makes itself present after 41 years

Submitted by Victoria Minoian on Wed, 2009-09-09 11:15

At Ban Thalang, a resettled village in the Nakai area of Laos, a standing memory of a not-so-forgotten past is now being happily used as a green onion harvesting pot.

(Update Oct. 5: this entry has been published in Lao language here).

Since I took the job of facilitating communication and outreach for the Nam Theun 2 Hydroelectric Project (NT2) earlier this year in Laos, I have been listening to many people telling me that this is more than just a hydropower development project. This is evident when you read and analyze the many structural reforms the country undertook for the project. I recently had the chance to experience some other contributions – perhaps unforeseen, but still important to the project.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the NT2 project site with some visiting colleagues from Washington, DC, particularly to the Gnommalat and Nakai areas. After visiting the site, we headed to the resettled villages to talk to locals and find their daily living realities. We talked to them as we observed the housing, complete with their water pumps, electricity, gardening, and not-so-distant farming plot facilities.

Papua New Guinea: Coffee farmers face challenges, as demand for crop continues

Submitted by Laura Bailey on Thu, 2009-09-03 16:15

Elimbari is one of Kongo Coffee's  special reserve coffees. Kongo is one of the country’s three largest exporters in Papua New Guinea.

Goroka is the provincial capital in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, and home to extensive networks of smallholder coffee producers.  PNG’s fertile lands produce a broad range of tropical and temperate crops, and the 85 percent or more of the population who live in rural areas combine household food production with cash crops. Cash is needed to pay school fees for kids, pay for transport to health posts and then meet doctor and medicine charges. Cash also has become critical for many non-market exchanges such as bride prices, funeral and compensation payments, and other social obligations. While the performance of food crops has been good and has kept pace with population growth, PNG’s main cash crops, including coffee and cocoa, has been below potential.

Coffee production is the backbone of the rural economy in the Highlands; across the nation, approximately 2-2.5 million of PNG’s 6 million people depend on coffee production for cash needs. Almost all coffee produced in PNG is arabica, and exporters see a sustained demand for PNG coffee with markets able to absorb a doubling of high-quality premium smallholder product. The challenge for PNG coffee growers is to produce consistently the quantity and quality required by those markets.

Solomon Islands: Bringing agriculture and infrastructure services to rural island communities

Submitted by Edith Bowles on Tue, 2009-08-11 11:15

The expense of operating outboard motor boats means that visits to each community are few and far between.

In December 2008, I spent two and a half days traveling around the Solomon Islands with officers from the government’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, which is implementing components of the World Bank’s Rural Development Program (RDP) in Western Province. Jointly funded by the EU and Australia, RDP is the World Bank’s biggest project in Solomon Islands.

In December, the project was just beginning to get going in the provinces. The agriculture workers were looking to the RDP to help restore agriculture extension services. Practically speaking, this means purchasing small boats, outboard motors, fuel, or rehabilitation of offices. At the Ag offices, I was told about the series of dead outboard boat motors lining one wall – including provenance and whatever series of incidents had rendered them inoperable.

Zai jian – Goodbye – See you again: a look back on China's progress upon leaving the World Bank

Submitted by David Dollar on Thu, 2009-07-02 10:46

This is my last week in the World Bank, after working at the institution for 20 years, the last five as country director for China and Mongolia.

A few weeks ago I had the unique opportunity to camp out on top of the Great Wall, which was a fitting exclamation mark at the end of my five years as the World Bank's China Country Director. It was a cloudy, drizzly day as we started, but then cleared up and turned into a lovely evening. The large group of kids we had with us slept in one of the guard towers along the wall, but I and a few others opted to sleep under the stars. The next morning opened with some mist, but then turned into a spectacular blue day. Some long-term Beijing residents hiking with us noted that they couldn’t recall ever seeing the countryside so green.

Beijing’s dry climate sets a limit on how green and blue it’s ever going to get, but the improvement over five years is noticeable and is one of the two most striking achievements of China in this period. In many cities, air pollution has declined as a result of policies that include banning the use of coal in inner cities, strengthening public transportation, discouraging car use (gasoline now costs 50% more than in the U.S.), moving heavy industry out of inner cities, and more stringent enforcement of environmental regulations.

Looking for signs of Cambodia's recovery: the ox weigh in, and more

Submitted by Stéphane Guimbert on Wed, 2009-05-13 13:29

Royal oxen, cousins to the more common variety in the photo, offered their take on Cambodia's agricultural prospects.
(Photo courtesy of dee under a Creative Commons license)

An important new development for economic forecasters happened yesterday. Like every year, a royal oxen predicted the country’s agriculture fortunes (a bit like Groundhog Day  for American readers, this is essentially based on what the oxen does and does not eat): by refusing to eat any of the grain, it raised concerns of a low rice harvest for this year… This would obviously be a bad omen given the many hopes placed on agriculture for weathering the global economic crisis. Other than that, tourist arrivals continue to slow down (and the low season will now start as the rain comes) and garment exports remain way below last year’s level.

So any good news since my last post on this and the release of the Cambodia Economic Watch? Yes, a few.

 

Laos' economy less affected by crisis, but sustaining growth a challenge

Submitted by Katia Vostroknutova on Tue, 2009-04-07 09:21

With a relatively unsophisticated economy that is agriculture- and natural resource-based, Laos has been affected by the crisis less than some neighboring countries.

In the aftermath of the 1997 Asian crisis, Lao PDR grew steadily, on average by 6 percent a year in real terms. Laos also impressively lifted one-eighth of its population out of poverty between 1993 and 2003. Laos aims to graduate from a low-income country status by 2020. The current global financial crisis, however, will slow down the progress in poverty reduction, as well as the growth rate and reduce government ability to invest in health, education, and infrastructure, therefore lowering Laos' chances to fulfill this goal (for more, see the World Bank's East Asia & Pacific Update, a regional economic assessment released today).

One of the poorest countries in the world, Laos is a small land-locked country in Southeast Asia, bordering and trading with China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. Laos has a relatively unsophisticated economy that is agriculture- and natural resource-based, although industry as share of GDP has been growing steadily in the last decade. The population of around 6 million people engages mostly in subsistence agriculture.

So far, Laos has been affected by the crisis less than other countries, because: